ASK KAREN - Paper Bleaching

Okay.. here it is as promised. Sorry about the delay - let's pretend its Tuesday, okay? *smile*

Over on my Facebook Fan Page, Wendy wanted me to tell you about beached paper after she saw my post about the tag I created using the items sent to me from my Valentine. (If you haven't already.... please become a fan -- it's a great way to get info about what's happening at the studio while following this blog at the same time.... I digress....)

Bleached paper .... is bleached paper. I literally raided my cleaning closet, poured a little bit of bleach into a cup and, using a paint brush, I painted bleach onto areas I wanted to highlight on my stamped image. The image is stamped on cardstock -- BUT not all cardstocks/cardstock colours will work. Test your cardstock with a dab of bleach before you set to work on your project. If the bleached area turns white.... you're good to go :)

Okay... on with a similar project....

Stamp your image onto cardstock using Archival Ink. Archival Ink is important as it is oil based and will not smudge or blur when you add water or other liquid over it.

Then... go ahead and ink it up with your favourite coordinating distress inks.

I love what Alexandra did on my valentine and I will show you the steps she took here too... so this is a little bit of me and a little bit of her.

Her next step was to add.....

YEP! You guessed it, Perfect Pearls. She mixed some Perfect Pearls and water into a Mini Mister and spritzed her image. That's what I am doing here too.

Using your Heat Tool, dry the image..... now get out your bleach!

BE CAREFUL.... Remember we are using bleach. Make sure you are working on a bleach friendly surface... and that you are using your Craft Sheet so you can protect your work surface. If you are messy like me, you might want to go put on an apron -- okay, I think you get the idea... *smile*

Dip a small paintbrush into the bleach and "paint" the areas that you would like to highlight on your image. In this case, I am bleaching the flower. The beach will remove the pigment in the paper as it dries. The more bleach (ie: right after you dip it into the bleach) the whiter it will turn. Play with the bleach strength to get you desired result.

You can leave it this way... BUT... that's no fun! Now that you have removed the pigment from the paper -- go ahead and add some distress ink colours to it.

I have done that here using Cut N Dry Nibs. I love these tools ... I dip them into my distress ink pads to pick up the ink and I can add ink to small areas -- very cool! I use these while I tint my black and white photos too... This looks a little rough at first but you're not done!!

Change paint brushes or get out your water brushes and paint plain water onto the areas you coloured with distress inks. NOTE.. you don't need too much water. Spritz some on your CRAFT SHEET and dip your brush into that. Remember Distress Inks react with water.... when you apply water with the paint brush it will blend the colours nicely!! It's all good!

Keep going, adding and touching up colours and blending them with water until you are satisfied with the results......

Now go ahead and add it to a tag or a card or your layouts. I just wouldn't put bleached paper onto pictures -- I think you'd agree that those reasons are obvious. :)

Here's my new tag I made... I think I will put it on a card. It would make a great "All Occasion" Greeting.

NOW, I just showed you how to paint the inside with bleach... you can also do outside, thin stamped images with bleach too.

Take a look at this background stamp -- heart themed of course!! I made a bleach stamp pad by layering lots of paper towel in a tray and pouring some bleach on it... enough to soak the paper towel without puddling. Then... use that as your stamp pad and stamp the image as you normally would. MAKE SURE you wash your stamp well immediately. :)

Think of the possibilities.... Have fun, Go make Art!!